One Planet, One Environment, One Humanity. Human-Caused Climate Change Should Be A Wake-up Call to Us All. We need a healthy, balanced natural world for the survival of all species. To the degree our planet is sick and out of balance so are we. We must return to our deep interconnection with Nature for our own health and survival to nutture and revive the harm we humans have wrought. Nature First.

Fossil fuels have powered human growth and ingenuity for centuries. Now that we're reaching the end of cheap and abundant oil and coal supplies, we're in for an exciting ride. While there's a real risk that we'll fall off a cliff, there's still time to control our transition to a post-carbon future.A deeper analysis of the crises we face, and possible solutions we can work on right now can be had HERE:http://j.mp/PCReader

2018 UN IPPC CLIMATE CHANGE REPORT

Guardian, October 8, 2018

We have 12 years to limit climate change catastrophe, warns UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change

2018 U.N. IPCC CLIMATE REPORT CIVILIZATION IS AT STAKE IF WE DON'T ACT NOW

Absent heroic efforts, the world has locked in dangerous climate change. That’s according to a much-anticipated report released on Monday in South Korea by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, a U.N.-sponsored collection of the world’s top scientists.

That stark, blunt assessment comes after years of deliberation at the request of the world’s most vulnerable nations to assemble pathways that could limit global warming to no more than 1.5 degrees C, now believed to be the upper limit that would preserve the stability of the world’s interconnected ecological and societal systems.

Grist, July 14, 2014▶ THANKS TO THE FRACKING BOOM, WE'RE WASTING MORE MONEY THAN EVER ON FOSSIL FUEL SUBSIDIES... making society bear the brunt of the local pollution and climate change caused by fossil fuel extraction, transport, and burning. the federal government continues to lose lots of money by selling fossil fuel extraction rights on public lands for less than they are worth, as the Government Accountability Office has reported. Here again, more extraction means more lost government revenue. This is true for coal as well as oil and gas. In Wyoming and Montana’s Powder River Basin, where coal mining is booming, Oil Change notes that below-market lease rates are costing the Treasury $1 billion per year.http://grist.org/climate-energy/thanks-to-the-fracking-boom-were-wasting-more-money-than-ever-on-fossil-fuel-subsidies/

VIDEO 56:44 "THE NEXT FRONTIER: ENGINEERING THE GOLDEN AGE OF GREEN"This entertaining one-hour documentary takes the viewer around the world in search of technologies and policies that will address the serious problem of excessive carbon dioxide emissions and our dangerous dependence on foreign oil. It features interviews with some of the top energy and economic experts along with educators and high-level government officials, all striving to develop clean energy solutions and alternatives to burning fossil fuels.http://www.thenextfrontiermovie.com/

This videos main point is fossil fuel, but all the things we are using fossil fuels for are growing into climate change problems. The whole world is dependent on fossil fuels. Try to think of one thing that wasn't made using fossil fuels or doesn't use fossil fuels. All these new inventions we have are still running on fossil fuels. The manufactors are adding to much co2 in the air causing tempertures to rise. What we need to do is learn to live without fossil fuels. Changing our energy sourse will change our whole economy.

A GREENHOUSE GAS 20 TIMES MORE POTENT THAN CARBON DIOXIDE - have been seen bubbling to the surface of the Arctic Ocean by scientists undertaking an extensive survey of the region.... it’s strongly reminiscent of what is probably the worst possible climate scenario imaginable, a feedback loop so humongous and destructive that it would lead to runaway warming that makes today's runaway warming look tame by comparison. The last time this happened, it poisoned 90 percent of all life on earth with hydrogen sulfide gas, in a process described by paleontologist Peter Ward as "life killing itself off."...http://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/vast-methane-plumes-seen-in-arctic-ocean-as-sea-ice-retreats-6276278.html

▶ AN ALARMING INSIGHT INTO OUR MELTING ICE GLACIERS AND WHAT THIS MEANS FOR OUR PLANET AND YOU. For the First Time in Human History We are Witnessing an Unprecedented Change to our Environment and Planet. Ice is far more sensitive to temperature changes than we thought and ice is melting twice as fast as a decade ago.

▶ AN ALARMING INSIGHT INTO OUR MELTING ICE GLACIERS AND WHAT THIS MEANS FOR OUR PLANET AND YOU. For the First Time in Human History We are Witnessing an Unprecedented Change to our Environment and Planet. Ice is far more sensitive to temperature changes than we thought and ice is melting twice as fast as a decade ago.

NASA, November 12, 2014▶ VIDEO: A NASA PERSPECTIVE: FOUR DECADES OF SEA ICE LOSS FROM SPACE : THE FUTURE. Scientists have used satellites to observe the retreat of Arctic sea ice from above. But the bigger challenge – now and in the coming years – is understanding what is happening below.The retreat of Arctic sea ice could have significant implications for ocean circulation, atmospheric circulation and even weather patterns in the continental U.S. and other populated areas. http://www.nasa.gov/content/goddard/nasa-perspective-four-decades-of-sea-ice-from-space-the-future/

Planet Earth OnLine, January 13, 2014▶ GLACIER'S RETREAT IS NOW IRREVERSIBLE - SCIENTISTSPine Island Glacier, the largest single contributor to sea-level rise in Antarctica, has started shrinking, say scientists.Pine Island glacier. The work, published in Nature Climate Change, shows the glacier's retreat may have begun an irreversible process that could see the amount of water it is adding to the ocean increase five-fold...http://planetearth.nerc.ac.uk/news/story.aspx?id=1588&cookieConsent=A

Truthout, December 26, 2013▶ CLIMATE CHANGE 2013: WHERE WE ARE NOW - NOT WHAT YOU THINK - To prevent increasingly dangerous climate change, the public and our leaders must be convinced to act decisively and robustly. As the latest data show, changes are occurring more quickly than scientists have ever predicted, and simple emissions reductions are no longer the answer.http://truth-out.org/news/item/20751-climate-change-2013-where-we-are-now-not-what-you-think

Summit County Citizens Voice, January 30, 2015FIVE YEARS ON: STUDY FINDS MASSIVE AMOUNTS OF OIL FROM DEEPWATER HORIZON DISASTER BURIED IN GULF OF MEXICO. Five years after BP’s failed Deepwater Horizon drill rig spewed 200 million gallons of oil into the Gulf of Mexico, a significant amount of that oil remains buried in seafloor sediments. A new study by a Florida State University researcher estimates that about 6 to 10 million gallons of oil are still there, perhaps decomposing slowly, but probably affecting Gulf ecosystems. “This is going to affect the Gulf for years to come,” said researcher Jeff Chanton. “Fish will likely ingest contaminants because worms ingest the sediment, and fish eat the worms. It’s a conduit for contamination into the food web,” he said sedimentshttp://summitcountyvoice.com/2015/01/30/study-finds-massive-amounts-of-oil-from-deepwater-horizon-disaster-buried-in-gulf-of-mexico-sediments/

TruthOut, April 09, 2015WHAT IS THE US GOVERNMENT NOT TELLING US ABOUT FRACKING IN THE GULF OF MEXICO?

RT Business, March 04, 2015BP CEO GETS 35% PAY RISE IN 2014 - FREEZES PAY OF ITS 84,000 WORKFORCE AROUND THE WORLD.Dudley's remuneration rose from $10.17 million in 2013 to $12.74 million last year, according to BP’s annual report released Tuesday. He also received $9.8 million in share awards. In January the company cuts its capital spending program and imposed a salary freeze, weeks after axing hundreds of jobs in Scotland and thousands more globally as a result of falling oil prices and profits. http://rt.com/business/237617-bp-dudley-remuneration-rise/

BP was banned from preforming any work in the US in 2012 and now the suspension has been lifted. They are back in the oil game. They had to pay a $4.5 billion fine, admit to lying about the damages, plead guilty, and now they are back in business. Their incident caused the death of 11 workers and the destruction of the Gulf of Mexico. Their attempts to make it better were pathetic. It is interesting how people can put a dollar value to the damage and death of people and a huge mass of water and fish population.

This was a huge example of poor corporate social responsibility and the damages are still taking its toll. Reading about the research on how the fish and sea creatures are still being affected 5 years later. The response that the BP representatives are giving in respect to the research on how the fish's hearts are being affected just shows that they are still not practicing good corporate social responsibility and it is sad to see how little a company will take care for their mistakes and the world they live in.

▶ KRILL SUPER TRAWLERS PUSHING PENGUINS TOWARD EXTINCTION...Penguins are threatened with extinction by climate change and giant fishing trawlers from Europe and Asia stalking the oceans around Antarctica. Penguins are a protected species, but the factory-sized trawlers are vacuuming up the tiny shrimp-like krill that are their main food source. The Southern Ocean is also becoming increasingly acidic from emissions of fossil fuels and will have a significant impact on krill populations. And yet efforts to create two marine protected areas in the Southern Ocean have been blocked by China, Russia and Norway....http://www.ipsnews.net/2013/04/krill-super-trawlers-pushing-penguins-toward-extinction/

-▶ OBAMA'S ARCTIC STRATEGY SETS OFF A CLIMATE TIME BOMB.US National Strategy for the Arctic Region prioritises corporate 'economic opportunities' at the expense of everyone else

At the heart of the White House's new Arctic strategy is an elementary but devastating contradiction between what President Obama, in the document's preamble, describes as seeking "to make the most of the emerging economic opportunities in the region" due to the rapid loss of Arctic summer sea ice, and recognising "the need to protect and conserve this unique, valuable, and changing environment."...http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/earth-insight/2013/may/17/obama-arctic-energy-security-climate

Deutche Welle, February 07, 2014-▶ ARE WE PREPARED FOR A CATASTROPHE IN THE ARCTIC?As climate change warms the Arctic, oil rigs are opening, ships are making use of new shipping routes and tourists are flocking to see the icebergs. But experts warn that we are not adequately prepared for accidents. http://www.dw.de/are-we-prepared-for-a-catastrophe-in-the-arctic/a-17412856

-▶ OFFSHORE OIL: SHELL'S CHALLENGE IN DRILLING FOR ARCTIC OIL ,Over a year ago, Royal Dutch Shell began oil drilling operations offshore of Alaska, the first attempt to explore the outer continental shelf in two decades. But Shell's initial foray proved disastrous. After sinking $5 billion into the effort, not a single well was drilled and its rig ran aground. Shell racked up big fines for faulty equipment, pollution and safety violations and sat out the last season. Outgoing Shell CEO Peter Voser called the Arctic one of his biggest disappointments. Elizabeth Arnold, based in Alaska, looked into the state of Arctic oil exploration in the U.S...http://www.marketplace.org/topics/sustainability/shells-challenge-drilling-arctic-oil

ClimateProgress, December 27, 2013 -▶ IN THE MIDST OF RECORD OIL BOOM, OBAMA ADMINISTRATION SEEKS MORE OIL PRODUCTION.

America produced an average of 7.5 million barrels of crude oil per day in 2013, an increase of one million barrels per day and the biggest one-year jump in the nation’s history, FuelFix reported Thursday. The U.S. Energy Information Association (EIA) estimates production will grow by another one million barrels in 2014 and will peak at a whopping 9.5 million barrels per day in 2016.

The Arctic, a large portion of which is controlled or claimed by Russia, is a new carbon El Dorado, holding up to a quarter of the globe’s undiscovered oil and gas reserves. According to one energy industry insider: "Climate change is opening up one of the last frontiers for hydrocarbons on our planet. The Arctic … could be set for rapid change and development as exploration, production and infrastructure will have an inevitable, irreversible impact."http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2013/sep/24/why-geoengineering-suits-russias-carbon-agenda

THE UTILITY MONOPOLY MUST END: EVERY AMERICAN SHOULD HAVE THE RIGHT TO PRODUCE HIS OR HER OWN POWER FROM THE SUN. WHY SOLAR? THE SUN EMERGES EVERY DAY. WIND POWER CAN ONLY GENERATE WHEN RELIABLE WIND BLOWS.

April 10, 2013 - Grist

▶ SOLAR PANELS COULD DESTROY UTILITY MONOPOLIES, ACCORDING TO U.S. UTILITIES

The Washington Post, March 07, 2015▶ UTILITIES WAGE CAMPAIGN AGAINST ROOFTOP SOLAR. Three years ago, the nation’s top utility executives gathered at a Colorado resort to hear warnings about a grave new threat to operators of America’s electric grid: not superstorms or cyberattacks, but rooftop solar panels.

November 24, 2014▶ KILLING THEIR OWN COMPETITIVENESS, Among many self-styled “conservatives”, the idea that we could provide for ourselves more cheaply and efficiently, produce energy from the free flow of the sun and wind, or become independent of the giant energy corporations that control our lives, (and fund so many politicians), is considered a dangerous subversion. We see it at both the Federal, and State level...http://climatecrocks.com/2014/11/27/killing-their-own-competitiveness/

Triple Pundit, November 13, 2014▶ CHINA'S 20% RENEWABLES COMMITMENT A CHALLENGE TO U.S. UTILITIES, China’s massive commitment to renewable energy will create economies of scale that will shatter current price levels around the world. Its success will bring to scale the technologies and processes required to integrate renewable energy into an electrical grid. China is on a path that will push the U.S. electric utility industry over a renewable energy cliff.http://www.triplepundit.com/2014/11/chinas-20-renewable-energy-commitment-challenges-u-s-electric-utility-industry/

"Back in January, the Edison Electric Institute — the (typically stodgy and backward-looking) trade group of U.S. investor-owned utilities — released a report [PDF] that, as far as I can tell, went almost entirely without notice in the press. That’s a shame. It is one of the most prescient and brutally frank things I’ve ever read about the power sector. It is a rare thing to hear an industry tell the tale of its own incipient obsolescence."

Even as concentrations of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere hit 400 parts per million (ppm) for the first time in human history last week, a new study in Nature Climate Change warns that thousands of the world's common species will suffer grave habitat loss under climate change... http://news.mongabay.com/2013/0513-hance-climate-habitat.html

Produced by the International Geosphere-Biosphere Programme and Globaia and funded by the UN Foundation for the launch of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Fifth Assessment

The data visualization summarises and visualizes several of the most significant statements in the IPCC's latest summary for policymakers published September 2013. This summary covers the physical science basis of climate change. In 2014, IPCC will publish summaries concerning societal impacts, mitigation and adaptation.

.@IPCC_CH scientists warned today that limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius will require “rapid and far-reaching” changes to the world’s energy, transportation, and other systems for which there is “no documented historic precedent.

-▶ A decade ago, Nobel Prize-winning scientist Paul Crutzen first suggested we were living in the “Anthropocene,” a new geological epoch in which humans had altered the planet. Now, in an article for Yale Environment 360, Crutzen and a coauthor explain why adopting this term could help transform the perception of our role as stewards of the Earth....http://e360.yale.edu/feature/living_in_the_anthropocene_toward_a_new_global_ethos_/2363/

HUMANITY HAS EXCEEDED 4 OF 9 'PLANETARY BOUNDARIES' THAT KEEP HUMANITY IN A 'SAFE OPERATING SPACE.'http://sco.lt/7Ji72v

THE ANTHROPOCENE: OUR PLANET'S THRESHOLDS AND BOUNDARIES. As scientists learn more about how our planet works, both now and in the past, they are increasingly aware of the existence of environmental ‘tipping points’ – points of no return. These are thresholds beyond which environmental change becomes hard to stop....http://www.anthropocene.info/en/thresholds-boundaries

▶ IN THE WORLD'S "SIXTH EXTINCTION": ARE HUMANS THE ASTEROID?Elizabeth Kolbert is the author of the new book The Sixth Extinction. It begins with a history of the "big five" extinctions of the past, and goes on to explain how human behavior is creating this sixth one — including our use of fossil fuels and the effects of climate change.

We aren’t an outside force disturbing the natural order of things – we’re an integral part of the Earth system ourselves. But as our societies have grown, the impact of our actions has increased too; we’re now among the main causes of environmental change....http://www.anthropocene.info/en/earth-system

Nearly everything we understand about global warming was understood in 1979. We knew everything we needed to know, and nothing stood in our way. Nothing, that is, except ourselves. A tragedy in two acts.

As temperatures bust heat records across the globe and wildfires rage from California to the Arctic, a new report produced annually by more than 500 scientists worldwide found that last year, the carbon dioxide concentrations in the Earth's atmosphere reached the highest levels "in the modern atmospheric measurement record and in ice core records dating back as far as 800,000 years." https://goo.gl/xWXY59 via @commondreams

The State of the Climate in 2017,the 28th edition of an annual compilation published by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).warns that even if humanity "stopped the greenhouse gases at their current concentrations today, the atmosphere would still continue to warm for next couple decades to maybe a century."The hefty document includes data compiled by 524 scientists working in 65 countries....

Mongabay, February 25, 2014▶ IS BRAZIL'S EPIC DROUGHT A TASTE OF THE FUTURE?With more than 140 cities implementing water rationing, analysts warning of collapsing soy and coffee exports, and reservoirs and rivers running precipitously lowhttp://news.mongabay.com/2014/0225-brazil-epic-drought.html

Reuters, February 11, 2015▶ BRAZILIANS HOARD WATER, PREPARE FOR POSSIBLE DRASTIC RATIONINGBrazilians are hoarding water in their apartments, drilling homemade wells and taking other emergency measures to prepare for forced rationing that appears likely and could leave taps dry for up to five days a week because of a drought.In São Paulo, the country's largest city with a metropolitan area of 20 million people, the main reservoir is at just 6 percent of capacity with the peak of the rainy season now past.http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/02/11/us-brazil-drought-idUSKBN0LF1YP20150211

"THE LAST WALK FOR WATER" (11 min read)Two weeks ago, charity: water founder Scott Harrison hiked nine hours into a remote village in northern Ethiopia. He spent five nights living with the community, hoping to learn more about a girl whose story he'd heard over a year ago. What follows isn't a typical charity: water story. There are no pictures of smiling children or clean water, and there's no happy ending yet. However, we believe it should be told as it illustrates the urgency of our work and the reality of the water crisis. https://medium.com/thoughts-from-the-third-sector/979160375b4a

VIDEO (10:00)OUR FORESTS ARE DYING, ARE WE NEXT?Trees are the terrestrial lungs of the planet, and they are dying all over the globe. Government agencies and mainstream media are not reporting on the unfolding cataclysm of this die off.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SPzix8TiHR8

▶ RIVERS WORK BEST WHEN THEY'RE WET.The water supply system in the Colorado River Basin is near its breaking point. Despite an above normal snowpack in the Rockies, climate change and prolonged drought have sapped the once-vigorous Colorado River, threatening the water supply for 36 million people, 15% of the nation’s agriculture, and a $26 billion recreation economy. - See more at: http://www.americanrivers.org/blog/rivers-work-best-when-theyre-wet/#sthash.jLQdgH3h.dpuf

Guardian Environment, February 8, 2014▶ WHY GLOBAL WATER SHORTAGES POSE THREAT OF TERROR AND WAR: U.S. INTELLIGENCEFrom California to the Middle East, huge areas of the world are drying up and a billion people have no access to safe drinking water. US intelligence is warning of the dangers of shrinking resources and experts say the world is 'standing on a precipice' http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2014/feb/09/global-water-shortages-threat-terror-war

▶ 2012 BROUGHT EXTREME HEAT AND DROUGHT. BUT THAT'S NOTHING TO WHAT'S AROUND THE CORNER

2012 was the hottest year on record in the United States. Widespread drought, wildfires and extreme heat affected human health and caused food prices to skyrocket. According to new research out of Columbia University, however, last year’s heat wave may be nothing compared to what’s just around the corner.

Researchers at the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory predict that a megadrought, the likes of which haven’t been experienced since the 12th century, could hit planet Earth within the next eight years, and it might never leave [PDF]. The cause? According to scientists, this drought will be brought on by “anthropogenic radiative forcing”, also known as ‘stronger-than-normal greenhouse warming caused by climate pollution’.

▶ AQUIFER ALERT: Stretching across eight U,S states, the Ogallala aquifer is the lifeblood of agriculture on the Great Plains. But can it survive a future of drought, pollution, and pipelines? ... Underlying almost 175,000 square miles in eight states, the aquifer sustains nearly one-fifth of all wheat, corn, cotton, and cattle production in the United States. But several years of drought and decades of intensive crop irrigation have left it seriously depletedhttp://www.onearth.org/articles/2014/01/so-what-exactly-is-an-aquifer-we-explain

DRILLING FINITE WATER UNDERGROUND TO QUENCH CALIFORNIA'S THIRST: COMPETING CONCERNS. California is facing its worst drought in generations -- bad news for the state where nearly half of the nation's fruits and vegetables are grown. With water from rivers and reservoirs in short supply, attention has turned to how to manage the state's groundwater. How much can be safely pumped from underground?http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/drilling-to-quench-californias-water-needs-raises-debate/

THE POWER OF WATER RIGHTS HuffPost Green, May 26, 2014▶ CALIFORNIA DROUGHT: "SENIOR RIGHTS HOLDERS" DOMINATED BY CORPORATIONS AND AGRICULTURAL CONCERNS ARE NOT OBLIGED TO CONSERVE WATER. Nobody knows how much water they actually use, though it amounts to trillions of gallons each year, according to a review of their own reports by The Associated Press. Together, they hold more than half the rights to rivers and streams in California...http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/05/27/california-drought_n_5395501.html

-▶ CALIFORNIA DROUGHT: CENTRAL VALLEY FARMLAND ON ITS LAST LEGS.Only sensible solution is to retire hundreds of thousands of acres of farmland. Decades of irrigation have leached salts and toxic minerals from the soil that have nowhere to go, threatening crops and wildlife. Aquifers are being drained at an alarming pace. More than 95 percent of the area's native habitat has been destroyed by cultivation or urban expansion, leaving more endangered bird, mammal and other species in the southern San Joaquin than anywhere in the continental U.S. http://www.sfgate.com/science/article/California-drought-Central-Valley-farmland-on-5342892.php

ClimateCentral, October 06, 2014▶CALIFORNIA DROUGHT IS SO BAD, EVEN ITS HYDROPOWER IS DRYING UP. Conditions are so dire that the California State Water Project, which provides supplemental water to 29 public water agencies, can only deliver 5 percent of the amount of water those agencies requested this year, he said. With less water filling the state’s reservoirs than usual, hydroelectric dams’ ability to produce electricity is drastically reduced.http://www.climatecentral.org/news/drought-dries-up-california-hydropower-18141

Santa Cruz Sentinel, December 07, 2014▶DROUGHT DRIES RURAL WELLS, RESIDENTS CARRY WATER IN BUCKETS. Only hours from Silicon Valley and Hollywood, in a state with the eighth-largest economy in the world, these desperate Californians are getting water in ways usually seen only in developing nations. They take water donated by charities or governments and store it in bottles, buckets, barrels and horse troughs. groundwater levels that have plummeted to all-time lows in many areas. In some communities in the San Joaquin Valley, groundwater has fallen more than 100 feet below previous record-setting levels.http://www.santacruzsentinel.com/environment-and-nature/20141207/drought-dries-rural-wells-residents-carry-water-in-buckets

REPORT WARNS OF DWINDLING WATER SUPPLY REACHING CRISIS POINT IN USA WESTERN STATEShttp://sco.lt/59iE3l

National Geographic, February 13, 2014

▶COULD CALIFORNIA'S MEGA DROUGHT LAST 200 YEARS? Two years into California's drought, Donald Galleano's grapevines are scorched shrubs, their charcoal-colored stems and gnarled roots displaying not a lick of life. "I've never seen anything like this," says Galleano, 61, the third-generation owner of a 300-acre vineyard in Mira Loma, California, that bears his name. "It's so dry ... There's been no measurable amount of rain."http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2014/02/140213-california-drought-record-agriculture-pdo-climate/

Nightly Business Report, October 20, 2014▶‘DROUGHT' BEER: CALIFORNIA BREWERIES HIT DRY TIMES. This drought is the most severe on record, and there’s no end in sight. Agriculture operations and manufacturers across California are drilling deeper, paying more, and competing with each other, with wildlife and with residents for water. But in the brewing business, it’s not just the water going into the cans which is now at a premium. It’s the water used to clean tanks... http://nbr.com/2014/10/20/drought-beer-california-breweries-hit-dry-times/

Eco-civilization: China's blueprint for a new era, provides international readers with an overview of key policy guidelines and priorities the country’s new leadership will adopt, focusing on its pioneering low carbon ‘eco-civilization’ concept, which will have a profound impact on China’s future economy. This is the first time that eco-civilization has been elevated to such a high-level, not only in parallel with, but also cutting across economic, political, cultural, and social systems. http://www.theclimategroup.org/_assets/files/China-Ecocivilisation.pdNRDC, April 24, 2014

▶ CHINA TO PRIORITIZE ENVIRONMENT OVER ECONOMY AND DEVELOPMENT Smog-hit China is set to pass a new law that would give Beijing more powers to shut polluting factories and punish officials, and even place protected regions off-limits to industrial development. While some details of the fourth draft are still under discussion, it has been agreed that the principle of prioritising the environment above the economy will be enshrined in law, according to scholars who have been involved in the process. The fourth draft is due to be completed within weeks. ...http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/04/15/china-expected-to-elevate-environment_n_5150010.html

UNEP April 22, 2015 ESTABLISHING CHINA'S GREEN FINANCIAL SYSTEM

REPORT OF THE GREEN FINANCE TASK FORCE

The report is the outcome of a Green Finance Task Force which was tasked to develop policy, regulatory and market-innovations to better align China's financial system with the needs of green industry and sustainable development. The report recommends the development of financial institutions specialized in green lending and investment. http://www.unep.org/NewsCentre/default.aspx?DocumentID=26802&ArticleID=34981&l=en

The Guardian, January 07, 2015-▶ CHINA ENCOURAGES ENVIRONMENTAL GROUPS TO SUE POLLUTERS.Groups that work to fight polluters judicially will gain special status and have court fees reduced, Supreme People’s Court says

Like many villages in China’s industrial heartland, Qiugang — a hamlet of nearly 1,900 people in Anhui province — has long suffered from runaway pollution from nearby factories. In Qiugang’s case, three major enterprises with little or no pollution controls churned out chemicals, pesticides, and dyes, turning the local river black, killing fish and wildlife, and filling the air with foul fumes that burned residents’ eyes and throats and sickened children. in 2007, Qiugang’s residents did something aboutit. http://e360.yale.edu/feature/the_warriors_of_qiugang_a_chinese_village_fights_back/2358/

Triple Pundit, November 13, 2014▶ CHINA'S 20% RENEWABLES COMMITMENT A CHALLENGE TO U.S. UTILITIES, China’s massive commitment to renewable energy will create economies of scale that will shatter current price levels around the world. Its success will bring to scale the technologies and processes required to integrate renewable energy into an electrical grid. China is on a path that will push the U.S. electric utility industry over a renewable energy cliff.http://www.triplepundit.com/2014/11/chinas-20-renewable-energy-commitment-challenges-u-s-electric-utility-industry/

New Scientist, December 16, 2014-▶ "GREAT GREEN WALL" HELPS CHINA TACKLE DESERTIFICATION: China has planted a "Great Green Wall" of trees across the north of the country in a bid to prevent the spread of the Gobi and Taklamakan deserts -- and the strategy appears to be working. "Vegetation has improved and dust storms have decreased significantly in the Great Green Wall region, compared with other areas," says Minghong Tan of Beijing's Institute of Geographical Sciences and Natural Resources Research. http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg22429994.900-great-wall-of-trees-keeps-chinas-deserts-at-bay.html#.VJA1WsaHenj

Earth Policy Institute, June 16, 2014▶ SOLAR POWER: CHINA LEADS WORLD TO SOLAR POWER RECORD IN 2013 In the last two years, countries around the world have added almost as much new solar photovoltaics (PV) capacity as had been added since the invention of the solar cell. Nearly 38,000 megawatts of PV came online in 2013, a new annual record. In all, the world’s installed PV generating capacity is now close to 140,000 megawatts—enough to power each home in Germany. Falling costs and effective policies continue to drive tremendous growth in solar power. http://www.earth-policy.org/indicators/C47/solar_power_2014

This series is about the generation that has inherited the waste, and a few members of that generation who are openly and actively trying to change the trajectory of the country to avoid disaster. Toronto Star,http://projects.thestar.com/chinas-generation-green/

Guardian Environment, December 20, 2014▶ 10 THING TO KNOW ABOUT CHINA, LATIN AMERICA AND THE ENVIRONMENT. New book argues Chinese firms’ presence in Latin America focuses on the most environmentally-damaging sectors

Treehugger, March 08, 2014 -▶ BUILDING A BUBBLE-like BIOME IN BEIJING COULD LET RESIDENTS BREATHE CLEAN AIR. Beijing's notorious air pollution has reached beyond hazardous levels in recent years, with the city covered in thick, toxic smog for a good part of the year. While the Chinese government has implemented various pollution-battling policies like car bans and the planting of green roofs, others like London-based design firm Orproject have gone down the road of more extreme design measures -- suggesting the building of bubble-like biomes, sealed from outside pollution, that would allow residents to actually breathe clean air.http://www.treehugger.com/urban-design/beijing-bubbles-biome-clean-air-orproject.html

Ag Professional, August 01, 2014 -▶ CHINA ADOPTS STRICTER PESTICIDE RESIDUE STANDARD.The new standard includes 3,650 indices detailing the maximum allowable residue for 387 pesticides on 284 types of food, according to the Ministry of Agriculture and the National Health and Family Planning Commission, which jointly issued the standard. Compared with the current standard that took effect in 2012, the new standard contains 1,357 new indices covering 65 new pesticides and 43 new types of food.The standard covers vegetables, fruits, grain, edible oil, sugar, soft drinks, nuts, eggs and meat. It includes juice and preserved fruits for the first time.http://www.agprofessional.com/news/China-adopts-stricter-pesticide-residue-standard-269591991.html

While some details of the fourth draft are still under discussion, it has been agreed that the principle of prioritising the environment above the economy will be enshrined in law, according to scholars who have been involved in the process. The fourth draft is due to be completed within weeks.

"(Upholding) environmental protection as the fundamental principle is a huge change, and emphasises that the environment is a priority," said Cao Mingde, a law professor at the China University of Political Science and Law, who was involved in the drafting process.

Come April of 2015 China is ready to set a new law that gives Beijing more power against factories that are polluting the environment. This new law will allow them to punish business officials and place protected regions off-limits to industrial development. This new law states that the environment is a priority and will give the power to environmental enforcers to “veto” production in the industries until they have met their targets. They are also looking to eliminate the punishment of maximum fine as companies will pay this fine and still continue on with their same procedures.

I think that it is important for people to see a CSR program within their government and I feel that it is too strongly geared towards strictly corporations. We have seen in some cases such as the United States where ultimately the corporations run the show but the government needs to take responsibility as they have put themselves in the position to take care of the people and they need to live up to it.

I believe that getting rid of the fine penalty will be very beneficial for Beijing, you see too many cases where through a cost/benefit analysis companies will chose to take the risk of a maximum fine as they will still make more profit. An alternate solution such as a shutdown of the company whether it is permanent or temporary will be a greater threat and result in a greater desired outcome and better cooperation

-▶ CLIMATE CHANGE AND INEQUALITY IS BREWING GLOBAL SOCIAL UPHEAVAL - WORLD BANK CHIEF. President of the World Bank, Jim Yong Kim, is warning that the combined crises of planetary climate change and rising global inequality in a highly interconnected world will lead to the rise of widespread upheaval as the world's poor rise up and clashes over access to clean water and affordable food result in increased violence and political conflict. http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2014/04/04

Guardian Sustainable Business, January 19, 2015 ▶ DAVOS 2015 : 'IT IS PROFITABLE TO LET THE WORLD GO TO HELL'

The Economic Times, January 20, 2015-▶ INDIA PM, NARENDRA MODI, CALLS FOR A "PARADIGM SHIFT" IN GLOBAL ATTITUDE TOWARDS CLIMATE CHANGE, URGES NATIONS OF HIGH SOLAR POWER POTENTIAL TO JOIN HANDS. This would help poorer nations to provide low-cost clean energy to their citizens without being arm-twisted by the developed world who have been closely guarding their patented cutting-edge technology. The change of attitude which India pitched for seeks a shift from "carbon credit" through emission cuts (mitigation) to "green credit" through adopting energy efficient measures and investment in renewable sector (solar, wind and biomass) in a big way.http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/environment/pollution/narendra-modi-calls-for-a-shift-in-global-attitude-to-meet-climate-goals/articleshow/45948075.cms

Center for American Progress, December 22, 2014 -▶FOSSIL-FUEL INDUSTRY SPENT BIG TO SET ANTI-ENVIRONMENT AGENDA FOR THE 2015 U.S. CONGRESS : A legislative rider that was quietly attached to a major defense funding bill earlier this month marked a watershed change in the political fortunes of the coal, oil, and gas industries and their return to power in Washington, D.C. The rider—which turns the Bull Mountains in Montana over to a Koch-connected, Houston-based company to be strip mined for coal—is the fossil-fuel industry’s first major payoff from a three-quarters-of-a-billion-dollar investment to secure Republican control of Congress and to set the stage for a pro-coal, pro-drilling, and anti-environment agenda in 2015

-▶ OPEC MINISTERS OPT FOR STATUS QUO AS OIL PRICES SLIDE.“It is increasingly clear that we have begun a new chapter in the history of the oil markets,” the IEA concluded. “Economic development no longer spurs oil demand growth as it once did.”

CHECK MATE

The UAE’s Minister of Energy, Suhail Al Mazrouei, echoed other ministers in saying that it was not Opec producers who were primarily responsible for the world’s oil glut, referring particularly to surging North American production....Meanwhile, oil production from North America — especially from unconventional sources, including so-called shale oil — has surged over the last few years, helped by relatively high oil prices. That has pushed the need for imported oil by the US to its lowest level in more than four decades and meant tougher competition for oil producers to find buyers...http://www.thenational.ae/business/energy/opec-ministers-opt-for-status-quo-as-oil-prices-slide

-▶ OPEC TO KEEP OIL OUTPUT UNCHANGED DESPITE LOW PRICES. Analysts say that by opposing an output cut, Saudi Arabia appears to be hoping to drive prices below the level at which shale oil production is economical. That, in theory, would force shale producers – particularly in the U.S. – to cut back, re-establishing OPEC’s dominance of the energy market.http://www.france24.com/en/20141127-opec-keeps-oil-output-unchanged-despite-low-prices/

Center for American Progress, December 22, 2014 -▶FOSSIL-FUEL INDUSTRY SPENT BIG TO SET ANTI-ENVIRONMENT AGENDA FOR THE NEXT GOP U.S. CONGRESS : A legislative rider that was quietly attached to a major defense funding bill earlier this month marked a watershed change in the political fortunes of the coal, oil, and gas industries and their return to power in Washington, D.C. The rider—which turns the Bull Mountains in Montana over to a Koch-connected, Houston-based company to be strip mined for coal—is the fossil-fuel industry’s first major payoff from a three-quarters-of-a-billion-dollar investment to secure Republican control of Congress and to set the stage for a pro-coal, pro-drilling, and anti-environment agenda in 2015

Reuters, December 02, 2014-▶ AT CLIMATE TALKS, UN CALLS FOSSIL FUELS 'HIGH RISK' INVESTMENT. Falling oil prices show the "high risk" of fossil fuel investments compared with renewable energies, the U.N.'s climate chief said on Monday at the start of 190-nation talks on a deal to slow global warming. Christiana Figueres, head of the U.N.'s Climate Change Secretariat, dismissed suggestions that a tumble in the price of oil to a five-year low on Monday could brake hopes for a shift to renewable energies as a cornerstone of the climate deal. http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/12/02/us-climatechange-lima-idUSKCN0JF37320141202

Environmental Justice, March 06, 2014 ▶ NO FRACKING WAY : HOW THE EU-US TRADE AGREEMENT RISKS EXPANDING FRACKING. A major trade deal currently being negotiated between the European Union (EU) and the United States (US) threatens the power of governments to protect communities, citizens and the environment from risky new technologies such as fracking. The Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) covers a huge range of issues and sectors, including food safety, genetically modified products, toxic chemicals, highly polluting fuels and data protection. The talks threaten to weaken or roll-back democratically agreed safeguards put in place to protect the environment and citizens – for the sake of corporate profits.http://www.tni.org/briefing/no-fracking-way?context=596

-▶ WHY GEOENGINEERING SUITS RUSSIA'S CARBON AGENDA, GIVEN THE COUNTRY'S FOSSIL FUEL STRATEGY IN THE ARCTICThe Arctic, a large portion of which is controlled or claimed by Russia, is a new carbon El Dorado, holding up to a quarter of the globe’s undiscovered oil and gas reserves. According to one energy industry insider: "Climate change is opening up one of the last frontiers for hydrocarbons on our planet. The Arctic … could be set for rapid change and development as exploration, production and infrastructure will have an inevitable, irreversible impact."http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2013/sep/24/why-geoengineering-suits-russias-carbon-agenda

When reading this article i find it amazing what is going on around the world. Places like Antarctica are changing dramatically in ways people are not in control of. What used to be an icy and colder places is now deteriorating and melting. I find it scary in a way because what else is going to change as the years go by. What are the next generation of people going to be apart of or get to witnesses now that many places and things are coming closer to be extinct.

Guardian Environment, August 26, 2014▶ GLOBAL WARMING IS ALREADY HERE AND COULD BE IRREVERSIBLE, UN PANEL SAYS. Global warming is here, human-caused and probably already dangerous – and it’s increasingly likely that the heating trend could be irreversible, a draft of a new international science report says. The United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change on Monday sent governments a final draft of its synthesis report, which combines three earlier, gigantic documents by the Nobel Prize-winning group. http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2014/aug/26/global-warming-irreversible-un-panel-report

Guardian Environment, March 18, 2014▶ CLIMATE CHANGE IS PUTTING WORLD AT RISK OF IRREVERSIBLE CHANGES, SCIENTIST WARN.The world is at growing risk of “abrupt, unpredictable and potentially irreversible changes” because of a warming climate, America’s premier scientific society warned on Tuesday. In a rare intervention into a policy debate, the American Association for the Advancement of Science urged Americans to act swiftly to reduce greenhouse gas emissions – and lower the risks of leaving a climate catastrophe for future generations...http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2014/mar/18/climate-change-world-risk-irreversible-changes-scientists-aaas

VIDEO (10:00)OUR FORESTS ARE DYING, ARE WE NEXT?Trees are the terrestrial lungs of the planet, and they are dying all over the globe. Government agencies and mainstream media are not reporting on the unfolding cataclysm of this die off.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SPzix8TiHR8

Common Dreams, April 04, 2014- ▶ CLIMATE CHANGE AND INEQUALITY BREWING GLOBAL SOCIAL UPHEAVAL - President of the World Bank, Jim Yong Kim, is warning that the combined crises of planetary climate change and rising global inequality in a highly interconnected world will lead to the rise of widespread upheaval as the world's poor rise up and clashes over access to clean water and affordable food result in increased violence and political conflict. http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2014/04/04

Guardian Environment, March 18, 2014▶ THE GLOBAL TRANSITION TIPPING POINT HAS ARRIVED: VIVE LA REVOLUTION. What we are seeing, as I've argued in detail before, are escalating, interconnected symptoms of the unsustainability of the global system in its current form. While the available evidence suggests that business-as-usual is likely to guarantee worst-case scenarios, simultaneously humanity faces an unprecedented opportunity to create a civilisational form that is in harmony with our environment, and ourselves. http://www.theguardian.com/environment/earth-insight/2014/mar/18/transition-tipping-point-revolution-doom

- ▶ ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT TO WORSEN OVER TIME AS RESOURCES BECOME HARDER TO REACH. Even if current appetites for new things remained stable, the world is headed for more environmental destruction as resources become harder to reach. HAVING PICKED MOST of the 'low hanging fruit', humans are now putting more effort into extracting useful materials, and a new study says the associated environmental impacts are only going to grow.http://www.abc.net.au/environment/articles/2014/03/25/3970411.htm

BBC News , March 31, 2014- ▶ NEW UN IPCC REPORT: CLIMATE IMPACTS ARE OVERWHELMING-The impacts of global warming are likely to be "severe, pervasive and irreversible", a major report by the UN has warned. Scientists and officials meeting in Japan say the document is the most comprehensive assessment to date of the impacts of climate change on the world.http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-26810559

I don't give a lot of energy to speaking about 'the collapse' of our civilization as I try to connect with people not from fear but from creativity. Yet I post this study as it came out from NASA and its pretty grounded in regards to the state of the environment.

▶ HOW RIGGED IS THE FOSSIL FUEL MARKET? IN A WORD, "OVERWHELMING". AN UNHOLY ALLIANCE -- THE TRUE COST OF FOSSIL FUELS. Fossil fuel company executives and D.C. politicians have long worked together to ensure coal and oil prices stay low enough to keep Americans hooked. Here's how we can break the addiction.... Industry gets tax breaks, subsidies, military support in volatile regions, the right to use our air and water like a sewer, and assurance that the government will clean up its environmental messes. Politicians get campaign contributions, a steady flow of dirty energy, and a talking point to brandish about how they kept gas affordable...http://www.treehugger.com/energy-policy/true-cost-fossil-fuels.html?campaign=daily_nl

Center for American Progress, December 22, 2014 -▶FOSSIL-FUEL INDUSTRY SPENT "BIG" TO SET ANTI-ENVIRONMENT AGENDA FOR THE NEXT U.S. CONGRESS : A legislative rider that was quietly attached to a major defense funding bill earlier this month marked a watershed change in the political fortunes of the coal, oil, and gas industries and their return to power in Washington, D.C.

The Film Setting Out to 'Change Your Attitude About Fuel Forever' Directed by Joshua Tickell and Rebecca Harrell Tickell, and narrated by Jason Bateman, the film “tells the story of America's addiction to oil, from its corporate conspiracy beginnings to its current monopoly today, and explains clearly and simply how we can end it — and finally win choice at the pump.”http://www.sustainablebrands.com/news_and_views/marketing_comms/sustainable_brands

THE MANY WAYS MULTINATIONALS BOTH DRIVE AND PROFIT FROM CLIMATE DESTRUCTION. Multinational corporations are relentlessly expanding their operations into ever more vulnerable and remote regions of the planet. As they do so they both drive the climate crisis and exacerbate its impacts. They bear responsibility for a global crisis which affects us all, and they bring social and environmental destruction to the local communities where they operate.http://democracyctr.org/wp/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/Corporate_Conquistadors-EN-webFINAL.pdf

VIDEO Moyers and Company, May 16, 2014THE WAR ON CLIMATE CHANGE SCIENTISTS Bill Moyers and Dr. David Suzuki, ScientistClimate Change and Government Collusion with the Petrochemical iIndustry.... killing the messenger is a 50-year-0ld strategy ripped straight from big tobacco’s playbook. “This is a very effective thing that we know has been done by the tobacco industry [and] it’s being done by the fossil fuel industry…http://billmoyers.com/episode/full-show-the-war-on-climate-scientists/

▶ AMERICA'S DIRTIEST SECRET: The oil and gas industry’s contamination problems are so large, they have been deemed impossible to prevent or clean up by both industry and government. An unimaginable tonnage of contamination is being placed into our environment every year thanks to lax regulation of exploration and production wasteshttp://www.boulderweekly.com/article-12516-americarss-dirtiest-secret.html

▶ SOVEREIGN DEBTS IN A FOSSIL-FUELED WORLD.Advanced economies – steeped in debt, with infrastructure and tax policies built around fossil fuels – resist innovation on new fuels or efforts to stem climate change and pollution. Hickey suggests that “Most world governments are so compromised with the fossil-fuel industry they cannot easily walk away without leaving their financial coffers worse off as the true costs of energy are hidden in a producer and consumer subsidy labyrinth that promotes the addiction.” Eliminating subsidies for the fossil-fuel industry, highlighting the true costs, would speed up the development of alternative energies. – YaleGlobal http://yaleglobal.yale.edu/content/sovereign-debts-fossil-fueled-world

RT New, October 29, 2014- ▶ 700 YEAR OLD VIRUS FROM ANCIENT CARIBOUS POOP REVIVED, INFECTS LIVING PLANT.Scientists have successfully revived a 700-year-old virus that was frozen within ancient caribou feces, using it to infect a modern-day plant. The development raises the possibility that global warming could resurrect other infectious viruses.http://rt.com/usa/200287-ancient-poop-virus-revived-infects/